Fast food ice cubes in China include more bacteria than toilets

Ice cubes used in drinks at some global fast food chains in Beijing, China, contain more bacteria than toilet water according to a new report.

And McDonald's and KFC were two of the chains implicated in the report by China Central Television.

Ice cubes at a branch of McDonald's contained 120 colony-forming units of bacteria per millilitre while tests on the ice cubes of local fast food chain Kungfu revealed that these harboured 900 colony-forming units of bacteria per millilitre. Besides exceeding the national limit of 100 bacteria per millilitre, this amount was also said to be five times the ratio of bacteria to be found in typical toilet water.

And tests applied to the ice cubes at on one branch of KFC showed them to contain 20 times the national bacteria limit and 13 times the amount of bacteria to be found in water samples from a toilet bowl.

The contamination was blamed on the fact that once installed, ice machines tend to be rarely cleaned which leads to accumulations of bacteria and algae. These then contaminate the incoming water supply and eventually the ice cubes.

After the report was released the three fast food operators concerned - KFC, McDonalds and Kungfu - all said they were carrying out inspections and enhancing disinfection at the stores involved.